After 'CRISPR babies' news, He Jiankui received how-to inquiries from fertility clinics

A fertility clinic in Dubai emailed "CRIPSR babies" scientist He Jiankui on Dec. 5 asking if he could teach its clinicians "CRISPR gene editing for Embryology Lab Application," news that Dr. William Hurlbut of Stanford University shared at a panel of the World Science Festival in New York City yesterday evening. Hurlbut, who has advised He on the bioethics of his work for several years, tells STAT that the fertility center was interested in offering CRISPR embryo editing to its patients and that He has also received other similar requests. To Hurlbut, this underlines the need for a global governance system for embryo editing. "There probably are fertility clinics eager to offer these services and people naive enough to want them," he says.